


The Lake in Kara Kara

by kissedjk



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen, This is basically what i think about while im playing, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25841326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissedjk/pseuds/kissedjk
Summary: A retelling of Link's adventure to the city of Gerudo. He meets Riju, and they share their sorrows over loss and tainted glory as they try to defeat the corrupted Divine Beast, Vah Naboris.
Relationships: Link & Riju (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 10





	The Lake in Kara Kara

It began the moment he walked in. He was so fondly described by many tongues, I knew him before he even spoke. Clad in women's wear, no matter, he was the model warrior, a soldier among men—I would know him through Lady Urbosa's words.

Link, the Mighty One. Blue eyes unlike the ocean, but like vivid sky blue chips, to a degree that no light seemed to bounce off of the iris. Blond eyebrows that seemed perpetually furrowed. This was the man who led the war against Great Death. Short in stature, he made up with the tragic glory on his exposed shoulders.

He was beautiful.

"Voe," I spoke, trying to hide my awe. "I know who you are."

"How?" His voice was as icy as his expression.

"The Sheikah Slate. You are here for Vah Naboris, are you not?"

So I told him about the Divine Beast that roamed the desert. Bringer of Thunder, he mouthed, as if history was so far away. Living in Gerudo, death was always at your doorstep. It was easy to count the days and recollect each passing moment; something to hold on to, in case Naboris came knocking on our door. History was for naught. It was only a collection of yesterdays, as vivid as the next and as remembered as the farthest beginning.

"I need your guidance. I cannot embrace lightning." He stood there before the throne that I sat on, but it felt like I was the one bowing to him.

I told him about the Thunder Helm, and he left just as quickly as he had come.

I waited.

I waited for days, weeks. Waiting for him was akin to asking for rain in the middle of the desert. Hopeless. I could not help but feel abandoned. I saw real beauty, and I let it slip past my fingers.

When he returned with the Thunder Helm, I threw a festival and begged Buliara to tell him to stay. 

"Why the sudden interest for this voe?" Buliara asked. She would not know. She was not close to Lady Urbosa. She would not understand his greatness. 

"He is a god among men," I simply said, turning away from her at the last second. 

The festival was held at the Square. I watched my people hang lights and set up stalls for a feast. Guards were strictly stationed at every entrance, to stave off the boorish Yiga Clan. It was a night for celebration. The Thunder Helm was back in my possession, and with that I could truly inherit the power Lady Urbosa vested upon me. It was happiness, if it must be named. But only for a moment. I could not see the blue eyes that brought salvation to my shining city.

"Where is he?" I asked Buliara. "Why didn't he come?"

"I heard he went to Kara Kara. He must not enjoy all this, for him to ditch," Buliara reasoned. "Perhaps the Yiga Clan got the best of him."

So, I held an after party at Kara Kara Bazaar. As I surfed the sand, holding Patricia's reins a little too tightly, I saw him. He stood on top of the tallest establishment in Kara Kara. He was wearing a blue shirt, no longer clad in women's wear.

"Link," I called out into the night, hoping he would look at me.

And he did. "Riju."

"It's a shame you couldn't join the festivities. It was thrown for you, after all." I joined him at the edge of the stone roof, my toes only an inch away from walking on air.

"You're too close," he said. "You might fall."

"I am sure," I said. I looked at him. His eyes were twinkling, his cheeks red. "That I would not."

He laughed. It was a rich sound, heavy with exhaustion. It must be tiring to hold up the world. I understood how that felt. And for a moment, I only wanted to hold the world with him.

"I came," he said after a stretch of shared laughter. "Someone offered a drink, and I took it."

"Did the Vai of Gerudo get the great Hylian Champion drunk enough he wanted to bolt?"

He nodded, closing his eyes. "Tell me why you do this, Ruji."

"Do what?"

"Tell me why you choose to stay in Gerudo. How does it feel, to call a place home?" He sat on the stone roof and gestured I do the same.

I looked down at him. He was no prince after all. No warrior. No soldier. He was just a boy tasked with impossible adventures, and he would take them because the world needed him. The world needed him to be heroic. I needed him to appease Vah Naboris. I needed him to hold off the lightning, solve the grand puzzle, and kill all the monsters. So I could hold up my world. I never thought I would feel sorry for a hero.

"If you want to sleep in comfortable sheets, turn to me. Home is only where the bed is, I believe. But the true definition of home is the people. My people. They are my home. It is like flying with a flock of birds, where you can rest knowing that when you open your eyes, they will still be there," I said. "I belong. It is a privilege, something I am willing to share with you."

"I belong everywhere," he said, drunken and a little dazed. "I belong nowhere."

"Come back to Gerudo with me," I said bravely. "Let me show you at least the physical comforts of an enclosed establishment."

We went down the ladder and snuck out of the after party. I divided the reins between us and let the cold night air bring him back to sobriety. I led him to the stone palace through a secret entrance, where only I and Buliara used. I told the guards at the staircase to my room to never speak of this, and they only nodded. I had the Thunder Helm now. Civilians would tremble before me.

"Makeela," he spoke, lazily flipping through the excerpts of my ruling. "That's a beautiful name."

In an entirely different context, I was known. He lounged on the cushions, his bare feet planted on running water. Everywhere, Gerudo had springs and fountains and stairs of clean, cold water. A necessity to stave off the blazing heat of the desert. He found solace in one of my springs.

I gave him a change of clothes and turned around to honor his privacy.

"Thank you," he spoke, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Tell me," I said as he settled down on the bed. "Where were you before you came here?"

"Hyrule," he answered. "Akkala. Zora. I was fighting Vah Ruta. She was a terrible beast, but gentle as I came to understand her."

"And how did you understand her?"

He told me about the secrets and ways and the strength needed to take down a monster. I watched him. Watched the lines on his face. He was a hundred years old, but he looked like a child. Yet I knew his soul was aged. You could not survive a war and have to fight it again and remain an untouched spirit. There were secrets between the words he said. Lies in every time he mentioned the monsters he came across as he canvassed for the secrets of Hyrule. Even his humble home in a land called Hateno, which didn't seem as humble as he mentioned the visitors and the drinks.

"You are full of vice, Link," I said.

"The soul is so fragile in sorrow. It must be revived through other means. Even for a little while."

And he looked at me. And I looked at him. The understanding that went between us.

"You miss the Princess," I told him before we did anything. "It was a hundred years ago."

He nodded.

"Was she your true love?" I asked, trying not to sound too hopeless.

He shook his head. "True love is for naught if fate doesn't believe in it. I loved her. And she might have loved me. But."

"But," I said with a sigh.

He laughed. "But."

"Tell me about Hateno," I said. "Do you miss it, too?" 

He led a life full of longing for people, places, and things. 

"No," he said surprisingly. "I like it here. I like the wares and the jewels. The colorful stones. The lake in Kara Kara Bazaar." 

"Ah, the lake. I used to spend my childhood hanging around that beautiful pond," I said. I took my place next to him, lying flat on my back as to not acknowledge the little space between us. 

"Not anymore?" he asked. "I go there as I please. During the hot afternoons. At midnight, when the water is warm and there is no one watching me." 

"Are you not scared of drowning?" 

"I am not scared of anything." He told me about Mipha's grace. The fact that he was undying. Immortal. 

"A god among men," I said. 

He laughed at that. "I bleed and I suture, Riju of Gerudo. I am as human as you, and you are as much of a god as I am." 

The next morning I woke up, and miraculously, he was sleeping next to me. He kept his peace, then. 

"Link, it is time." I told him. The slightest rustle shook him awake.

"I need three days."

I stared at him, looking for more lies.

He avoided my gaze as he said, "The Yiga..."

"They are not coming back, are they?"

He shook his head. "I made sure of that. But it took too many things. My strength. My weapons. My sustenance. Grant me a day for my strength. Two for my lost bearings. Three for my arsenal."

I nodded. "It shall be so."

I loved Gerudo for its hot days and freezing nights, yet Link loved the extreme weather even more. Sometimes, as I strolled the city, I would find him hopping on stone roofs, basking in the sunlight. He wore what vai wore, so he could escape the grueling gaze reserved for voe. In the afternoon he would ask for my hand—to help him with his bearings. I provided him the names for the best kind of fruits, meat, and spices. I told him of elixirs, but he already knew them. He ran his fingers through the fabric sold in the market, at awe with how bejeweled they were. At night we clapped at how the jeweler sifted through earth to redeem the minerals hidden between and beneath, and I even coaxed the jeweler to hand Link a pair of Topaz earrings.

"For Naboris," I said, as we left the jeweler.

"Thank you. I will remember your kindness in times of sorrow," he said.

"No more." I found his eyes, then. I understood his sadness, and I believed that he could overcome each tendril of pain. "Perhaps it was a hundred years ago. But it is now a hundred years after, and I must tell you that it is easy to live in the present. That is what Lady Urbosa told me."

He had a funny look, as if he was remembering something.

"Do not look back. The present is worth enjoying." I found a friend in the crowd. "Buliara!"

"Riju," Link called after me as I turned away from him. "Thank you."

"It is my pleasure, Link of Hyrule. See you in the palace."

"See you," I imagined his reply as Buliara stowed me away and into the dancing crowd.

On the second day, he demanded that I come with him to Kara Kara. We spent the morning sand surfing with my sand seal Patricia and his own rented seal. The air was still cold as the sun peeked from the horizon, greeting the desert softly. In the morning, the desert was not too harsh. The wind was almost welcoming. But as afternoon struck, quicker than what I expected, sweat dripped down our skin as heatwaves blurred the horizon. The air was hot as coals. The wind carried minuscule sand particles, making it impossible to sand surf with an unsheathed face.

"I have never seen a place like this," he said, his mouth cocered by a strip of fabric. "I have never witnessed such an angry sun."

I laughed. "I think it is punishment, sometimes."

He scoffed. "How could this be punishment? In Kakariko, it rains almost everyday. In Lanayru you will find water and grass in every turn. In Zora, the entire place is sleek with fountains and fountains of water, even the stairs in which people walk on are shrouded with thin flowing water. It is cold, and it is forgiving. You will tire of it. Contrary to the sweat down my back, Gerudo is a breath of fresh air."

"You can stay," I bravely uttered. I hoped he failed to hear me as I saw him frown. "Even after you defeat Vah Naboris. You could have a place in my army of vai."

"This is not a place for voe," he said, his voice monotonous. "I'm grateful for the offer."

"I don't want your gratitude," I muttered as I whipped the rains, urging Patricia to head to Kara Kara. I heard him follow after me.

I could smell the sweetness of ripe fruits as I walked into Kara Kara. I spotted Guy from the village of Rito, deep in thought as he sat near the cold lake at the center of the oasis. Some Hylians were walking about, devising ways to enter my city unscathed by the tridents of my guards. The palm trees provided shade, and at the bottom of them were a handful of vai selling meat and trades. It was a slow afternoon, even slower as the heat willed people to not exhert much effort. Outsiders did not know my name, and all my life I have told the vai to not treat me as if I were royalty.

"You do not have to worry for curious eyes," Link said as he stripped off his shield, sword, and bow. He kept his sheath of arrows close to him. I looked away as he moved to disrobe. It was his soul that I wanted, anyway. A lifetime of his friendship. Years and years of his storytelling.

And when I went into the cold water, a relief from the blazing heat, I only wished that he wanted the same.

He dove from the palm trees; a feat that sent me into hysterics. He was laughing then as he set to climb another tree to jump from. The water was nice. It was a beautiful day.

We watched the blood moon rise from the horizon, and I saw his worried gaze flick from our sand seals to the desert beyond.

"We could spend the day here," I told him. He agreed.

We sat around a fire with the two scheming Hylians and Guy. Some vai dropped by to greet me, and scurried along, shy because of the men. I watched Link cook. The other Hylians distributed the food around the circle of Kara Kara's guests for the day. I listened as the Hylians exchanged stories of how they got thrown out by my people, and I could not help myself from laughing. Link gave me a knowing look, remembering the first time we met. Hostile guards and suspicious stares as I revealed his case to my closest servants.

The night came to the topic of going places.

"After Gerudo, I must say that I'm all set for Akkala," the young hylian said produly. "To a town called Tarrey. My uncle builds the houses there."

"I know him. A member of the Bolson construction company?" Link added. "I must say, I owe him a visit after a trip to Goron."

"Ah, Goron. The mines there are rich with diamonds," the other Hylian said. "But that is where I lost my steed. He simply fell into the lava. To this day I mourn my loss."

"Goron," I said. "All the way to the east?"

"It is the backbone of all jewelers," the young Hylian said as he took a bite of steak. "The people there are very friendly, contrary to such a devilish landscape. Imagine living near an active volcano."

Link laughed. They all laughed. I mimicked their joy.

"What about you?" Link asked the older Hylian. "Where next?"

"Kakariko is where I should be. My father keeps writing me letters about his chickens escaping. I must build him a taller fence, and then I travel the next day."

"You?" the younger Hylian asked me.

"Ah," I said, making up words as I speak. "My heart is in Gerudo. You'd have to drag me out of the desert."

I grinned, expecting a guffaw or two, but I was only met with surprised stares.

"You should see the world, girl. You are as young as an unripe Mighty banana. There are places that you should go, if only you learn to seek them," the older Hylian said.

Link cleared his throat. He turned to me and whispered, "Hylians tend to spill all over the places they go to. We live by traveling."

"What a young soul you have," I jabbed with words. 

Link frowned. 

He talked about monsters instead, and how to defeat them. When the sun rose again, we surfed back to Gerudo, where he spent the entire day sleeping in the stone palace. As night fell, he went to the jeweler alone to enchant his weapons. When he returned to the palace, I helped him cook elixirs to stave off the grueling heat. I gave him insects that were said to repel thunder and lightning. I caught him rubbing his Topaz earrings, late into the night, as he paced the stone terrace overlooking Gerudo.

"I must head to a house in the desert before sunrise," I told him. "To prep the Thunder Helm." 

Colorful stones reflected light into his stature. He was beautiful, even then. More so. His coloring was better. His eyes were no longer as jaded. I wanted to give him weeks, plenty of time for recovery. But Vah Naboris was a looming threat, and every day that passed was an opening for the beast to rupture my city. It must all come to an end. 

"When I fought the Divine Beast in Zora, there was a manifestation of Ganon that prevented me from controlling her entirety. I prepared for weeks. And after that I still came out torn into shreds. But it was worth every drop of blood and toil. The perpetual rain let up, and the sunlight reflected from the city of glass. It was a breathtaking sight. As if it were a hundred years ago, and Mipha was still alive." He looked out into Gerudo. He was standing still now. "Gerudo is beautiful. It is the most beautiful city. I would like to see it without the daunting influence of Ganon. But then, Riju, I am so afraid." 

He looked at me then, terror in his blue eyes. "I am so afraid of the creature awaiting within Naboris. The manifestation of Ganon. It must be greater than the one in Zora, for the one in Zora was set in water. This one is set by the raging of the sun. The camel, the animal that Vah Naboris was built upon, is a maze of parts. I fear that I am not good enough. I fear that it will strike me down before I even attempt to enter its vicinity."

"Link," I said. "Be not afraid of being torn to shreds. The Champions are watching over you. I am watching over you. I will be here when you crawl out of Naboris. I will be here when Naboris spits out your dead body."

"Thank you." 

I did not want his gratitude. I wanted a lifetime with him. "It is my duty. It is what Lady Urbosa tasked me to do." 

We slept some more.

He was inside Vah Naboris for days. Buliara and I watched from the house overlooking the sandstorm. He only saw the desert again when he fell from the height of the Divine Beast, with nothing but sand to cushion his fall. When I came to him, he had barely a heartbeat. I was in pieces as we dragged him back to Gerudo. He slept in my quarters for twice the days he spent inside Naboris. I stood guard and slept in the throne room, making sure no stray Yiga would find himself in my palace. When he woke from his slumber, his throat was too dry to speak. I held a basin of water before him, I brought cold water to his lips.

"You are the lake in Kara Kara," he croaked out before passing out again.

I watched the Divine Beast from Gerudo everyday. It still walked, but not as freely as before it met Link. I could not wait for a second more. I lounged on his bedside, eager for him to rise. I needed answers. I needed him to need me. Something. I would give him the Thunder Helm. I would give him my city.

"Riju." He was sitting up. I gave him a bowl of fruits. A plate of roast beef. A glass of water. I watched him consume everything.

"Tell me everything."

He had solved the puzzle within the Beast. Just as I assumed, he could not take on the manifestation of Ganon.

My heart was broken when I saw him dead on the sand. But I could hear it crack once more as he said, "I need to go to Rito."

"Why?"

"I cannot take him. Vah Naboris is entrenched by the strongest echo of Ganon. I am too weak. I must go," he said. "To gain strength. To battle his speed. I should have went to Rito first. I'm sorry, but I am asking you to bear the burden of Naboris for a little more." 

"I can't." 

He looked sad. "I'm sorry. I was dead in the sand. I have never been that wounded. I was right to be afraid, Riju." 

"That's not what I meant." I gathered my bravery. I need not gather it too long, for it was always with me. "I can't, if you leave. I want you to stay." 

Link refused to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry, Riju. I will return, do not worry. I'm not abandoning Gerudo in the mercy of Naboris." 

"And when you defeat Naboris?" 

He did not answer. 

"You won't stay," I answered for him. "Maybe you'll go to Kakariko and build your father a fence." 

He glared at me. It was a startling gesture. "Without me, Hyrule would go extinct. I leave not because I want to, but because I know how to separate my duty from love." 

I stared at him. 

He sighed into his hands. "I need some time to think. Please, Riju." 

"I will give you three days." 

"And four more," he said. "For my rest—" 

"For your lost bearings. For your arsenal." 

"And for you," he added. 

I turned away and walked out of my own room. I did not know which love he talked about. Love for Gerudo or love for me. But maybe I already knew. Maybe I knew when his eyes were on me as Buliara and I danced in the square. Maybe I knew when I tried out a piece of fabric from the market, and he stared a little too long. Maybe I knew when we swam in the water, and he did all these stupid tricks just to worry me. 

But it was for naught. I could have had him for a lifetime. He gave me seven days, and I knew it was all he could give. This was all he could offer, and I knew in myself that I wanted more. It was not true love if fate did not believe in it. 

For six days I avoided him and kept to the house overlooking Vah Naboris. I wanted to make myself believe that I could separate duty from love. That I would not be taking his seven days. But on the night of his last day in Gerudo, he came to me, and suddenly, looking at his reddened cheeks from the heat of the sun, I wished that I could turn back time, to the day he died on the sand. I should have slept next to him in the sheets. I should have cried and let my tears fall on his cheeks. I should have fit a lifetime in seven days. 

We stood on the tallest point of the house, a place only achieved by climbing a ladder the height of a hill. The sun was setting, and he was no longer clad in Vai clothes. Instead he was wearing a dark blue ensemble that made his footsteps quieter. The topaz earrings shone on his earlobes.

"Riju." Thousands of words he told, while only uttering my name. 

"You're all set," I said. His bow was restringed. His sword was sheathed, bereft of dust. His shield glowed yellow. He looked better than the last time I saw him. It was time for him to leave. 

"I'm going to Rito," he said. "Do you want anything? For when I come back." 

"Don't," I said harshly. "Do not promise me you will come back soon. I know you. I know you can be gone for years." 

The look in his eyes. I was right. He was breaking my heart.

"I'm sorry I cannot choose you," Link said.

"I understand, Link of the Champions." I watched the sun sink low. "Do not promise me your return. Promise it to the city. While Vah Naboris walks, Gerudo trembles."

He nodded. "Of all the jewels in this city, you shine the brightest." 

I was likened to the lake in Kara Kara. I wanted to be the ocean. But an ocean does not belong in the desert. You cannot compare a vast ocean to a Vai who has never set foot outside of Gerudo. He needed someone as big as the world, or maybe he didn't need anyone at all. 

"Go," I told him. "The world needs you. Gerudo will wait. But, Link, I won't." 

The look in his face. He was not sad. He was in pain. Not from any wound, but from heartache. 

"I understand," he said. 

"I will always almost-love you," I jested, lighthearted. 

He pressed his palm to my cheek. "I will remember you in light. Thank you for everything, Riju of Gerudo." 

"Kill Naboris," I said. "Go where you must go." 

Link nodded. 

As he powered his Sheikah slate, and as he faded into blue, his particles dissolving into the air, he looked at me and smiled. "Maybe I'll come visit from time to time." 

I laughed as he disappeared. I was no fool. I knew that as he left, he would see another beautiful city, and he would forget Gerudo. He would soon forget me.

**Author's Note:**

> ⚔️


End file.
